


Across Dimensions

by Missy_dee811



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 3490, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Based on a Tumblr Post, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Bisexual Tony Stark, Bisexuality, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Conversations, Crying, Earth-3490, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Torture, Inspired By Tumblr, M/M, Married Couple, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Not Spider-Man: Homecoming Compliant, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Past Relationship(s), Porn with Feelings, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Steve Rogers, Threesome - F/M/M, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Feels, Universe 3490, Woman on Top, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-09 06:06:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14710530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy_dee811/pseuds/Missy_dee811
Summary: Tony goes down to his lab to work on some stuff and finds he has some visitors: a version of himself from another universe and her husband, Steve Rogers, and they have a proposition for him.[Inspired byAll About Usby baneme.]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [baneme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/baneme/gifts).
  * Inspired by [All About Us](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14690901) by [baneme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/baneme/pseuds/baneme). 



> You can read this fic's humble beginnings on [Tumblr](http://viudanegraaa.tumblr.com/post/174041217181/laexploradoraaa-viudanegraaa-based-on).
> 
> I was inspired by Mero's art, which you can find [here](http://baneme-art.tumblr.com/post/173996054282/stevetony-crossover-au-in-which-mcutony-has).

Tony scrunched his face, running his hand though his hair. "Let me get this straight. In your universe, I was born a woman and I'm married to Steve Rogers?"

He met her bright blue eyes. He didn't think his eyes were that blue or that bright but maybe it was a different kind of brightness he was seeing, but he wouldn't dwell on that too much.

"Yes! Isn't it amazing," responded Natasha with much more enthusiasm than Tony thought was strictly necessary. He could see how this would be exciting but  _he_  wasn't the one married to the Living Legend so he kept his excitement in check.

Maybe her Steve Rogers was an entirely different being from the one he knew, but he wasn't going to think about that either.  _That_  lead down a winding road that had ended with him on his back all bloody in a Hydra bunker in Siberia.  _That_  was two years ago and he wasn't going to revisit the place he kept seeing in his nightmares. Not while visitors were here.

He amazed himself. He hadn't panicked or lost control when they appeared. He had kept his cool.

She had introduced herself when he entered the lab. "You must be me," she said confidently, stopping him in his tracks. He was taken aback. The woman before him had bright blue eyes and wore her brown-black hair in a pixie cut.  _Makes sense_ , he thought to himself.

She was wearing an armor that looked like it would fit Romanoff, if he'd let her try it. It was also red and gold but not in the same places.

"Natasha Stark," she said, holding out a gauntleted hand. "Iron Woman."

Tony nodded. "Anthony Stark, but please call me Tony."

At that, she smiled. "Well Tony, I know how well I handle strangers in my work space so thank you. I had expected something quite different."

Tony laughed. "I'm impressed too. Didn't think I'd be this calm." She started moving out of the armor and Tony couldn't help but watch her. He never really saw what it looked like to do this, and watching her now was a novelty he wasn't going to miss.

As she took off her armor, she spoke. "Something must've gone wrong with the machine Reed and I were working on back home. I'm terribly sorry. I think we ended up in the wrong universe. We're not quite sure what happened, but we were transported here."

_We?_

At first, he didn't know to whom she had referred. He had only seen her at first, but from the shadows emerged someone he'd recognize in any universe, or so it seemed.

"Steve," he had said with trepidation.

"Oh! Darling, come here. I'm sorry I got caught up talking to Tony. You know, you didn't have to hide," she said reaching for his hand. He took it and gave her slender fingers a slight squeeze and Tony thought, for the first time since meeting Natasha, that he was hallucinating.

"This is my husband," she said turning back to Tony. "But it seems you also have a Captain America. I'd like to meet him."

She turned to her husband.

 _Husband! He's her husband!_ He tried to contain the rising tide of emotions threatening to engulf him.

Before he could say anything, she added, "I wonder if he looks just like you." She must've given Steve some sort of look because he had the nerve to duck down and  _blush_.

Before he said something he knew he'd regret, he motioned for them to sit. He contemplated what to do or say next. He should probably call someone.

Natasha leaned into her husband and said something Tony wasn't meant to hear. Steve's reply made her giggle. It was  _adorable_. He shouldn't think of himself as adorable, but she was charming. Clever.  _Happy_.

He sighed.

"I love your goatee," said Steve and Tony's heart skipped a beat.  _Oh no, this is bad. This is very bad._

Natasha chimed in, "You're right, Cap. Goatee looks good on me. I bet you would  _love_  to feel it."

She eyed Tony. It was then he realized just how little he was wearing. Sure, he was covered from head-to-toe but only in a tight, black under suit and with the way she was looking at him, he knew he couldn't hide a thing.

She met his eyes and they were darker than they had been.  _Oh no, oh no._  He had thought about it sure. Sure. But this, this was different.  _They were married! He couldn't just..._

She stood and closed the space between them. "Anthony, you and I are the same person," she said reaching for his goatee. Her hands were softer than his but still calloused.

"I know you know I know what you're thinking in this moment. Know this: I'm not nearly as shy as you seem to be."

Tony scoffed, "I'm not shy."

She pulled away. "Honey, you're blushing."

She grinned devilishly and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I've no problem showing you how not shy I can be."

This time, to his surprise, the one who blushed was Steve.

_Goddamn that super soldier hearing._

He and Natasha had agreed to work on a way for her and Steve to get back home. Tony let her take the lead. After all, she had been working on a project with this  _Reed_  and seemed to have a handle on this sort of thing.

Besides, he was in over his head. No shame in admitting that. His therapist had said it was good to seek help when needed. She was offering. It would seem rude to decline.

Furthermore, it was an opportunity to learn from someone with more experience, someone who would know how he worked. She would understand, intuitively.

Besides, if the portal she built worked, he’d have someone to visit. It gave him a strange sort of comfort to know that, at least on one earth, he wasn’t alone.

She wasn’t as chatty as maybe he had expected, but then again, he wasn’t as chatty as some people thought he’d be, so it was par for the course. She seemed disconcerted at the fact that he had never met a man named Reed Richards.

“No Mr. Fantastic? No Invisible Woman?” She turned to look at him. “Those names mean anything?”

He shrugged.

“Huh. Well, I can’t say it’s strange as I’ve never been on another earth. I can’t know what to expect everywhere I go.”

 

He didn’t add a comment but agreed with her sentiment.

He found her to be jovial and optimistic with keen observational skills. Mistakenly, she dropped something and DUM-E came to her aid. “Oh, aren’t you precious!”

She turned to her husband. “Steve. Steve! He has bots!”

Tony beamed at her when she said she loved him. She told him how she never got around to making her own robots. Her passion, she said was architecture and interior design. She and Janet van Dyne – another name he didn’t know – worked together on their down time. Janet was a fashion designer. Together, they had decorated and furnished the Tower.

In her last year, she decided to study abroad. Howard hadn’t wanted her to leave the States, fearing she wouldn’t come back to the US.

“Was it unfounded,” he asked, genuinely curious. He hadn’t thought of going away while he was in school. He had told the Avengers only months ago that he had been too busy partying to think of that.

“Oh no, not at all. I hated Howard. I never wanted to see him again. Of course, I got my wish, but sometimes, I wish I hadn’t.” She looked at her hands as she spoke. Tony watched Steve put down the book he was reading. There was a tension in the air that hadn’t been there before.

“Car crash,” he said.

“How did you – oh.”

“I was supposed to have been back. I had said I was staying in Russia a little longer. I didn’t want to come home. Dad always felt the need to remind me what a fucking disappoint I was whenever I was home. Sometimes, I think it would’ve been better if he had just ignored me but he didn’t. He wanted to know what I did and where I went and with whom I spoke every minute of every day. It was suffocating.

Mom wasn’t nearly as bad. She worried, a lot, but it wasn’t without reason. I was reckless. Too smart and too pretty for my own good. Maybe that’s why dad hated me. I don’t know. I never asked. Too late for that now. I’m over it though. He’s been dead for years. I remade the company. I started a foundation named after mom when I came back.”

Tony moved to stand close to her. He needed her help but he didn’t want to ask. He didn’t want to interrupt.

She looked over the diagrams he had drawn. She picked up a red colored pencil and made her corrections. He watched her write. She was left-handed. When she was done, she passed him back the paper and said, “I’m glad I didn’t come back alone.”

“You found someone in Russia?”

She smiled. “I did. You know her. Or rather, you know a version of her. Natalia Romanova. The Black Widow.”

Natasha told him how she met Natalia. At the time, she an undercover KGB operative, who was trying to get close to Natasha. They knew she was the heir to her father’s empire. Her mission was to get close to her, close enough that she could infiltrate the company. It had almost worked.

“She fell for you?”

“We fell for each other,” said Natasha fondly.

“Oh. I – I didn’t know she liked women.”

Natasha gave him a look. “I’m not saying every Natalia does, but I know for certain, mine does.” He left it at that. He didn’t know Romanoff that well. At least, not well enough to know that.

“So then, what happened between you and Romanoff,” he asked.

“I knew you’d like to gossip.” She walked over to stand beside him. She watched him working with his holograms.

“I’m not an idiot. I was suspicious, sure, but I was also in love. I was… Devastated when I heard what had happened. I asked her to come back with me, to come back to the States. She said yes. Of course, she said yes. Her mission was to get in my good graces and get access to my company. I suspected my parent’s death wasn’t an accident but I needed proof and I wasn’t going to find it in Russia, so we left Moscow the following morning. December 17.”

For a moment, Tony stopped breathing. Natasha watched his expression turn sour.

“If this is too much, I can talk about something else,” she said much lower than she had been speaking. He knew Steve could still hear, but he appreciated the gesture.

“No, no. It’s not that. It’s just…” He ran his hand through his hair. “I – I only recently learned what really happened to my parents and hearing how different things were for you. When – when they died, I had nobody. No, no – that’s not true. I had Rhodey.”

“Oh, Rhodey! Is he here? Can I meet him? Oh, he’s been so busy. I haven’t seen him in a while. I miss him.”

Tony shuffled uncomfortably.

Natasha raised her brow. “Oh no, what happened?”

“For years, I thought it was a car crash. It wasn’t. There were targeted. I spent my last day with them arguing. The next day, I was an orphan. Not too long ago, I found out about the truth.” He cleared his throat. “Let’s just say, I didn’t take it well.”

She pursed her lips. She knew there was more to the story but she seemed satisfied, if only for now, with his answer.

They didn’t talk for a while. They worked in silence.

 

Working with her was different from working with Bruce or alone with the bots. It was different than being at SI.

He broached the topic with her. Asked her about her company.

He found himself drawn to her. With her, it was easy to converse. She said after she returned to the States, and buried her parents, she bought the company that had manufactured the part that had malfunctioned. It had been the cause of their crash.

She had all the models with that part recalled.

She fixed the problem herself but she couldn’t help but think their deaths had been orchestrated, so she set about uncovering the truth. She enlisted Natalia’s help. By then, she had learned the truth about her girlfriend and had asked her to leave the KGB, which she did.

She defected to the US. It wasn’t long before she joined S.H.I.E.L.D. Tony stayed very quiet, taking in everything Natasha told her.

“Things ended between us not long after. A part of me will always love her, but I’m a married woman now. She’s just a good friend.”

There was silence once again. He thought of his relationship with Romanoff and could see some similarities even if they weren’t all that obvious.

 

Natasha dropped a soldering iron and as soon as she did, Tony could hear DUM-E whirring to life. “Oh no! Oh no, you don’t. You’re not dousing her.”

Natasha laughed as DUM-E approached. “Oh, you must be the prodigal son.”

“Don’t encourage him,” said Tony, but she just shook her head. He could see her smiling though. It was clear she loved the bots and found them endearing.

It was his turn to share. He told her all about the bots, all about Afghanistan and the cave. She kept quiet while he talked. All she said was, “I know what that’s like,” but didn’t add any details and Tony left it at that.

A little while later, U came over with smoothies. “He’s trying to be helpful but I don’t know if they’re edible.”

Natasha took a sip and put down her cup. “Well, I’ve had worse.”

He laughed. “The team wasn’t really a fan of them either.”

“Tony, where are they?”

“Not here, Tasha. They’re not here.” She frowned at that and took another sip of her smoothie.

“You shouldn’t be alone so much, Tony,” she said.

“I know, Tasha. I know. But it’s easier said than done. Plus, I have the bots,” said Tony. He took a sip of his smoothie and noted that Natasha had finished hers though she hadn’t been a fan. For that, he admired her.

“No daughters,” asked Natasha as U came back to take the dishes from her.

Tony started coughing, having been caught mid-gulp by her humorous comment. She roared with laughter at that.

“Please don’t die, we need to finish!”

“I’m not dying, Tasha. I promise. Besides, you’d do fine on your own.”

“I’ll have you know, Anthony Stark, that I’m one of the smartest women in the world.”

“You wear your genius beautifully, Natasha.”

“Flatterer,” said Steve from across the room. They both laughed and returned to their work. He thought it would be weird to have a crush on himself, but her charm was hard to resist.

They talked some more. She told him architecture was her forte. She enjoyed engineering projects, pointing towards her armor. At that, Tony had turned and looked at the armor, standing in the back of the lab. “It’s a beautiful suit.”

“So is yours,” she replied.

 

After some time, Steve excused himself. Tony couldn’t blame him. Generally, when engrossed in his work, he wasn’t much of a conversationalist. Present company excluded, he tended to keep to himself and blast music while he worked.

However, he found it very easy to talk to Natasha. She had a simple way with words, caught onto things very quickly, and laughed readily at the silliest things.

Her good humor was contagious.

He felt at ease with her. He didn’t feel as if she had invaded his space. It was nice to have her around, especially now that no one came down to the lab anymore.

Steve kept to himself while they worked and at some point, asked if there was a gym he could use to burn off some steam. Natasha seemed glad for the chance to be alone with Tony and Tony, who hadn’t said much to Steve, was glad to be rid of him. At least, for the moment.

He hadn’t been around Steve – _a_ Steve, _any_ Steve – since the incident in Siberia. He kept the flip phone on him, all the time, but that was for other reasons. Avengers stuff.

It was nothing personal.

She swiveled in her chair. “Alright, Tony. Speak up. What’s wrong with your Steve? I presume it’s your Steve since you hadn’t met my Steve until today and I keep a watchful eye on my Steve, so I’d have known if he did something egregious.”

_She’s pretty._

_Carefree_.

She wore her confidence so easily. She was in another universe, one she had never inhabited, but in this lab, she seemed at home.

Tony envied her. He envied the love between her and Steve, as evidenced by the way he watched her work. Tony had been paying attention. It was impossible not to notice the glances they kept giving each other

He needed to stop thinking of her that way. For starters, she was him. Secondly, she was married. And thirdly, she probably hated that people thought of her as eye candy.

A while later, she pulled him from his chair and said, “Okay, that’s enough for today.”

She gave his hand a light squeeze, much as Steve had when they first arrived. “We don’t want to keep him waiting.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has mature themes.

Steve was sitting on the couch when they came up the stairs and made their way to the kitchen. From a distance, it looked like he was reading one of Tony’s books, but as they moved closer, he realized. _That’s one of Steve’s books._

He had bought it for him as a gift. It was a simple gesture. Tony had seen it and thought of Steve, thought that Steve would enjoy it.

He had never seen him read it, had no idea if he had ever touched it. Steve had thanked him, stuttering over his words, unused to gestures of the sort. It had made Tony wistful. He wondered if Steve had ever received a gift from anyone before, or if he was just bashful.

Steve had seemed genuinely interested in its contents when he skimmed the back cover and the first few pages, but nothing more had come of it. He had never mentioned it in conversation and Tony had never dared to ask.

He wanted to say something to Steve, but he didn’t know what he _would_ say. They had been working for hours, the man had to entertain himself somehow. It made sense that he would gravitate towards _his_ things, they were the same person, after all.

“Tasha, I was wondering when you’d come up,” he said, quietly, as if expecting her to be alone. Putting down the book he was reading, he turned to face his wife, and spotted Tony.

“Oh, Tony,” he said with a small smile.

Tony stopped walking. He froze. For a moment, he forgot everything. He forgot about Natasha, he forgot about their conversations in the lab, and all the things they had shared with one another. He looks so much like him, thought Tony, desperately wanting to say something to either one of them, or maybe both, but he couldn’t. They were trapped here while he and Natasha found them a way home, it wasn’t their problem. It wasn’t something he could expect them to solve.

He wasn’t even sure how he could solve it.

He thought of the cell phone sitting on his night table, fully charged.

He thought of those first few days. How he used to go into Steve’s office. How he used to sit in his chair and think through the possibilities. After Steve broke them out of the Raft, he thought they might try to come back. It was a foolish, he knew. Yet, he wished it was so.

Every day he sat in Steve’s chair, he wondered what would happen if Steve walked through the door. Perhaps, he would sigh exasperatedly, and ask for his seat back, and Tony would deny him that simple request, if only because he could.

The Steve before him wasn’t the cause of his heartache, he knew, but he looked so much like him, it caught him by surprise. He hadn’t said anything after Steve spoke and Natasha, sensing some discomfort, reached for Tony’s hand.

“Hey,” she said, softly. Her words were always so soft. “Tony, are you alright?”

He shook his head and she squeezed his hand. “Is there anything I can do, Tony? Is there anything we can do?”

He almost said no. He almost said no and turned, making his way to his bedroom, but he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t leave without showing them to their room. They would be staying for the foreseeable future, until he and Natasha could finish the portal on which they had started working that afternoon. He would need to get used to their presence in the compound.

It seemed so strange to him, for long it had been empty, and he had hoped the others would return, and now that there were others running about, he wished for the silence he had dreaded for so long.

He sighed and squeezed back. “For now, I’ll show you your rooms.”

They walked down the halls and Tony pointed out which rooms were for whom. Natasha seemed excited at the prospect of meeting the Avengers – they had a team of their own back home, so Natasha knew all the Avengers he named – but he didn’t have the heart to tell her they weren’t coming. They hadn’t been here in years.

Perhaps, she knew, but was giving him the benefit of the doubt or the chance to come clean himself. Either way, he thanked her for it.

The room across the hall from his was Steve’s. He never went in there. His office was one thing, but his bedroom… That was another level of privacy. Tony wouldn’t invade his space like that, not when he had never been invited by the man himself.

“This is Captain America’s bedroom,” he pointed to the door and turned to meet Steve’s eyes. He nodded. Then he looked at Natasha and said, “And this, this is my bedroom.” Natasha nodded and turned to meet her husband’s eyes, he smiled and nodded, coming to some sort of understanding with his wife.

Once again, Tony envied her. He envied the way communication came so easily to her. He envied her intimacy with Steve, who would hang around the lab, but not disturb her while she worked. He envied the faith he had in her. She had said she had a way home and he believed her and trusted that what she would build would work.

But mostly, he envied that he would wait for his wife to finish so they could go to sleep. It was such a simple thing, but Howard had never considered that Maria might not want to go to bed alone. He had never considered that she might hate that he worked late hours and didn’t bother letting her know or take her needs into consideration.

He loathed having to wait for Pepper to fall asleep before he could join her and he only did so because he didn’t want to disturb her. It wasn't fair, he should've told her, from the beginning about the nightmares, but he had been afraid, not of what she would say, but what it would mean for them. Besides, she needed her sleep. She had enough on her plate.

It was his problem to solve.

Yet, she always came by, on the off chance that he would finish quickly, and go up. Go up with her and crawl into her arms. Some nights, he was more successful than others and found that comfort in her embrace. Once, she awoke to the armor leaning over her. She had panicked, afraid of what might have happened, and had stormed out, leaving him him distraught and all alone.

He couldn’t blame her. Never blamed her. He had been a fool, keeping something like that from her, and asking more of her in the moment would've been asking too much of anyone.

 _Steve had waited patiently_ , he thought over and over. Would his Steve be so patient, would he try to come get him as had done Pepper, or would he just fall asleep, having given up as had his mother?

Maybe he would be patient with him.

“Tony,” she said, moving into his space, as she caressed his arms. “We don’t think you should be alone tonight. It’s just an offer and you can decline.” She brought his hands together in hers. “It doesn’t just have to be tonight either. We can stay with you until we go back. But only if you want that.”

He swallowed. It was an enticing offer. He could refuse, he should refuse, but Steve… She had said they would keep him company… He had always wanted to see what it would be like to be with himself and Natasha was gorgeous but Steve… Steve had always been a dream of his and here he was, willing and able. Unlike the version of him he knew, unlike the version of him that had once called this his home but had never come back.

He couldn’t say what made him do it, but he nodded. “Fine, but there are some things you should know about me.”

She smiled, bright and open. “There are some things you should know about _me_ , but let’s go in and get settled first. Then, we can talk.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natasha discusses her captivity, hence the tags for torture. It's not graphic in detail but worth noting.

Tony unlocked the door to the room and led them inside.

She paused in the middle of the room and took in the large, expansive bed in the middle, adored with the softest, plumpest pillows. There was an armchair on the side of the bed, next to the night table, that was bare except for a blanket neatly folded, and haphazardly strewn over the armrest. She smiled as she approached it.

“This looks comfy,” she said. There was a mischievous glint in her eye that Steve knew all too well.

“Tasha…” he warned, but she waved him off.

“Relax, it’s been a long day. I wanted to take a shower.” She turned to face Tony and added, “I hope you don’t mind.” Tony beckoned her forward and she made a bee line for the bathroom.

“Everything you need will be in there, Tasha,” said Tony.

She nodded and turned to face Steve. “I’ll be a while.”

Steve was unsure how to approach Tony. There were plenty of similarities between his wife and her counterpart. He had heard them talking in the lab most of the afternoon. Having spent so much time with Natasha, both on and off the battlefield, it was clear to him that they approached things in similar ways. This should make things easier, and yet, he sensed something from Tony that was giving him pause.

He wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable. If he was anything like Natasha – and he was, in many respects, or so he had gathered from their lengthy conversations in the lab throughout much of the afternoon – he couldn’t hide it. Sure, others wouldn’t necessarily notice.

It wouldn’t be obvious.

The Starks preferred to keep things close, after all, it was why they wore suits of armor. They kept their fears close, kept their insecurities closer, but all would come out, tumbling down, if their carefully manufactured masks were to crack. If someone were to get close and peer inside, they would be face-to-face with someone markedly different from what the sensationalist media had presumed they’d be like.

He’d experienced that firsthand. The Natasha he had met – the Avengers’ benefactor – was an exhilarating woman, for sure, but there was an air of mystery to her. Steve didn’t know if it was that she was a woman and an attractive woman at that, or if it was something else, but he felt compelled to be around her, to be in her presence, though he knew nothing about her, nothing about this era.

She was glamorous and intelligent, witty and playful, but the media never caught her quiet moments, and he was glad for it. It was for him and for her close friends. It was for the team. It wasn’t for public consumption. So much of her life had been for public consumption.

They never saw the tenderness. The way with which she spoke about the team, the care she gave their needs, often to the detriment of her own. The latter of which, Steve didn’t know. At least, not then.

Thus, Steve knew, someone close to him, who knew him well would know. They would see the signs for what they were; they would know what to look for, and even the smallest things wouldn’t escape their notice. He supposed a close friend – someone like Rhodes – would help him, distance him from the person or change the topic of conversation.

Natasha never hid her discomfort well. She thought she did. She thought she was suave. The epitome of aloof. She preferred to come off as disinterested or at best, ambivalent. It gave her an advantage. If people didn’t think she cared, they couldn’t use a situation to their advantage, and turn it onto her. If they thought she was indifferent, she wouldn’t be weak in their eyes.

She wouldn’t be a bleeding heart, an overly emotional woman, who had no business in politics, and even less in superheroics.

Steve never thought of her as weak. Upon learning she had been the person inside the Iron Man armor, he had thought her the bravest person he’d ever met. It had taken a lot of courage to expose herself to the world and debut as Iron Woman, but he had never been prouder.

Her body language spoke volumes, and once Steve had learned that, he couldn’t ignore the signs. She was his wife and he loved her. Her safety was always a top concern. He knew she didn’t need the protection – often she was the protection – but it wasn’t about that, it was about trust. Natasha trusted him with her life; she put the utmost faith in his ability to see a situation turn south, and face it head-on. He owed it to her. It was his responsibility to not let her down.

He didn’t sense discomfort from Tony. It was something else, but he couldn’t place it.

He didn’t get the impression that he was aloof or that he was disinterested or unaffected. Quite the opposite, it was as if Tony wanted him to reach out, wanted him to be the first to break the silent spell that had been cast when he emerged from the shadows and his wife had introduced himself.

He knew how to speak to his wife. He knew what to say her to her to coax into talking about the things she wished he would ignore or the things she kept buried. He knew he was no better than her at times. He knew he tended to keep things hidden, but they had been trying to do better, for the sake of their marriage.

To his surprise, Tony spoke first.

“What’s her plan,” he asked.

“I’m not entirely sure,” said Steve earnestly. He sat on the edge of the bed and motioned for Tony to join him. Tony tensed for a moment but sat next to him leaving a small but discernible space between them, separating their thighs.

_Would it be too much to touch him?_

“She likes you,” said Steve and smiled. Tony was beautiful. Not in the same ways his wife was beautiful, but in ways he would always find beautiful. He had long lashes and bright, brown eyes. He was used to seeing pools of blue, when she smiled or when she cried, but this was different. His hair was shorter than hers but not by much, and it curled at the nape, as did hers.

Sometimes, he missed her long waves, missed the way they framed her face, and fell behind her shoulders. He missed the way they swayed in the wind, but he understood why she kept it short. Though he wished it were longer, he would never ask that of her.

_“Steve, they’d – they’d drag me by my hair, they’d push it under the water. I thought – I thought the strands would wrap around me like tendrils. I wished, on more than one occasion, that I would just choke and die. I wished for the air that couldn’t reach me to stop trying. I can’t,” she paused, slowing her breathing, dropping her head in her hands, and forcing herself to stop crying._

_“Don’t – don’t stop crying. Let it out.”_

_“Steve, I can’t let someone do that to me again. I can’t let someone use me like that.”_

_“No one will, Natasha. We’ll make sure of it,” said Steve, reaching for her and drawing her close, holding her against his chest, as she cried on his shoulder._

_“No one will ever lay a hand on you again, Natasha. I will make sure of it.”_

_“I know, Steve,” she said, gasping for air, “but you won’t always be here, and I can’t live through that again. It’s been years, I know, but the threat is always there, and I can’t let it go.”_

Tony threw himself onto the heap of pillows. “She’s… I – I never thought I’d meet another version of myself. She’s wonderful,” he said as he covered his face with his arm.

Steve turned and watched the way his breaths came, watched the way his muscles strained with the effort of keeping still. Steve hesitated, wondering if it was much too forward of him to reach out, to touch him, to pull him close, but he waved away the fear. He reached for Tony’s hand, the one covering his face, and tugged on it lightly.

It was electrifying, touching him.

“Do you want this,” asked Steve, as Tony propped himself up.

“Yes,” he said, breathless. “I’ve dreamed of this. I’ve dreamed of him and you,” he said, reaching for Steve, his fingers caressing his neck. “You’re here and he… He isn’t.”

Tony pulled away, hesitant. “Does – does she want this,” he asked.

From behind them, Natasha spoke up. “She’s right here, and yes, she would.”

Her hair was wet and dripping onto her shoulders. The towel she’d chosen was long, reaching past her knees. She held the towel in place and it covered her chest. Steve eyed her, he looked nervous.

Natasha paused midway between the bathroom and the bed. She straightened her back and dropped the towel. Tony sat up and watched as it happened. She had a device in her chest, akin to an arc reactor, but not like anything he’d ever created. The light it gave off matched the color of her eyes. Instinctively, he reached for the arc reactor on his chest.

“Tasha,” said Steve, unable to take his eyes off his wife as she moved closer to them. Tony couldn’t take his eyes off her either. _Is this what you were worried about, Tasha?_

He looked at her slim shoulders, followed her lean but muscular arms down to her slender fingers. He watched the way she breathed, paying close attention to the hard muscle there. _She’s muscular, more so than she looked in the loose-fitting tank she had been sporting in the lab._

Tony was mesmerized. She was stunningly beautiful. Hard muscle and soft curves. The scars across her chest reminded him of the ones on his chest, but there were notable differences. Chief among them the scars that indicated her breasts had been surgically removed.

“The convoy we were in was attacked. I was the prime target, but I didn’t know. I had no idea. I had been advised against going, of course. An active warzone, they said, was no place for a woman, least of all, a woman like me. I didn’t heed their warnings and even if I had, they would’ve targeted me elsewhere: a tech conference, a business meeting. It wouldn’t have mattered. They didn’t want me dead. They needed to make sure I cooperated. I had no choice, I had to work on their weapons.”

She picked up the towel from the floor and began drying her hair. Now, that she had exposed herself, she moved freely, without care. She knew both men were watching her, but she wasn’t fazed. It didn’t make her uncomfortable in any way.

“Shards of metal and glass were embedded in my chest. Perhaps, they could’ve done more to save my breasts. I can’t know and at this point, I’d rather not know.”

She sat on the armchair and almost crossed her legs. For a moment, she seemed to forget she was naked, and adjusted herself. In the end, she bent her knees, and tucked her feet under her hip. “I had small but perky breasts. They bounced nicely.” She stared down at her chest.

“I have spent a lot of years wearing suits and blazers to work, to formal events. My soiree in Asia had taught me modesty, or so the press said.”

Crossing her arms, she added, “What would you have done, when you woke up to a tube down your throat, and no breasts to speak of, when they day before, you had had an ample bosom? What would you have done when you’d been taught that they were the ultimate sign of womanhood, of femininity? Was I not a woman now because I had had my breasts surgically removed without my consent? I know, I know. I was dying, and I’m grateful for this device – it keeps my heart beating – but I didn’t ask to have my body mutilated. I didn’t ask for these scars.”

She started crying, and Steve, immediately joined her, standing to the side of armchair. He rested his hand on her head and stroked her hair.

“Most days, I can live with this. It doesn’t define me. My trauma, my injuries, they don’t define who I am. I am Iron Woman and I have been since I was a young adult. I’m much older now, and so much of this is behind me. But some days, I come across old pictures, or someone makes a comment, and I lose focus. The rest of the day goes by, a blur.”

Steve had quietly placed his palm on her shoulder. They locked eyes and Natasha smiled, wistfully. She met Tony’s sorrowful gaze. “Enough of that,” she said, shaking Steve. If Tony hadn’t seen it, he wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Steve _pouted_.

“Oh, stop. I’m fine, Steve. Really. I’m a big girl. I’m done crying,” she said, wiping the last of the tears away, but it took her a moment to center herself.

“You said… You said you’ve been doing this since you were a young woman. How long have you been Iron Woman?”

She walked over to the bed and he was enthralled. She strutted. Carrying herself with grace, she moved with agility. It reminded him of Romanoff. She crawled across the bed and laid on her side, facing him. Her hair was still wet and droplets fell on her shoulders and dripped down her chest.

Natasha was wearing only her smile, a devilish one at that. “I was about 25,” said Natasha, getting closer.

“Steve was a bit of jerk when he found out.” She laughed, a full-bodied laugh that made her glow. She tossed her hair over her shoulders. “I was wearing nothing but a red thong when he found out I was Iron Man. It came as quite a shock to the old man,” she said, smiling brightly, mostly at Steve’s blush.

“It barely covered anything,” he said, still blushing.

“Of course. That’s why I was wearing it. I didn’t want to be naked under the armor. I…didn’t want any fabrics to get caught.”

For the first time in quite a while, Tony laughed. He turned to face Natasha and ran a hand down her arm, reaching for her hand. “Did you always wear skimpy lingerie under your armor,” he asked, teasingly.

“Why are you still dressed, Tony?” She asked, dodging his question with one of her own. He attempted to shrug, but she leaned into his space and started pulling his shirt up, revealing his stomach.

Following her command, he sat up and pulled the shirt off. The blue of the arc reactor shined brightly. Visible were the patchwork scars that littered his chest. She cupped his cheeks and kissed him. “God, you’re gorgeous, and I say this as someone who regularly fucks Steve.”

Tony leaned into the kiss, feeling her soft lips against his. “Is he going to join us,” he asked.

She tilted his head, running her hand along the back of his neck, and kissed along his jaw. Then, she turned to Steve, “Well, big guy. Are you just going to stand around, or are you going to do something about that hard on?”

**Author's Note:**

> You can reblog this on [Tumblr](http://viudanegraaa.tumblr.com/post/176193961361/across-dimensions-chapter-1-missydee811).


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